Dear ARRSers,whilst having read many books regarding the US in the Pacific campaign, and also having seen the series The Pacific.Why didn't the Yanks just bypass some islands for example Peleaue,(excuse spelling) and just starve them out,with a blockade etc. Would have saved a lot of casualtys?I am no historian just EX Cav that's why I'm asking the brethren please for a sensible answer.

That and the Island Campaigns were an oportunity to fix the effective Japanese forces in one place and then kill them as the code of Bushido forbade surrender or retreat when defending the empire. We were skint, the US were skint, waiting them out was not an option.

&#8220;After the Battle of Midway, the United States launched a counter-offensive strike known as "island-hopping," establishing a line of overlapping island bases, as well as air control. The idea was to capture certain key islands, one after another, until Japan came within range of American bombers. Led by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, the first stage of the offensive began with the Navy under Nimitz, and Marine landings on Guadalcanal and nearby islands in the Solomons.

From that point on, Nimitz and MacArthur engaged in "island-hopping" amphibious drives that bypassed strongly-held islands to strike at the enemy's weak points. In an effort to liberate the people of the Philippine Islands, MacArthur pushed along the New Guinea coast with Australian allies, while Nimitz crossed the central Pacific by way of the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Carolines, and Palaus. Both campaigns would entail seemingly endless, bloody battles &#8212; ultimately leading to the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. &#8220;

That and the Island Campaigns were an oportunity to fix the effective Japanese forces in one place and then kill them as the code of Bushido forbade surrender or retreat when defending the empire. We were skint, the US were skint, waiting them out was not an option.

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The plan for the Home islands invasion was something else. And the fanaticism of the japanese prediucted very heavy casualties among Allied and Japanese.

Think of every island as a aircraft carrier. If you by pass them then every ship in aircraft range of those islands is at risk.

US did use a by pass strategy in ignoring Japanese forces in China almost entirely.

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If you shoot down all the Aircraft an island aircraft carrier is but a starving rock. Example: Rabaul, was pummeled to the point the Japanese there might as well have become farmers. Truk. IIRC there was a Australian island territory which didnt surrender till 45.

Correction the Marines werent the only force on Saipan. The Armys 27th Division was the object of the largest banzai attack of WWII while on Saipan.

The plan for the Home islands invasion was something else. And the fanaticism of the japanese prediucted very heavy casualties among Allied and Japanese.

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The Marines and Army may have not had a clue that an Atom bomb would have been the weapon used from an island airstrip but it was on the cards at higher levels, heavy casualties predicted for both sides or not the Japanese could not replace those troops but the US could. At that particular time it was worth throwing troops at the islands as even if the Japanese could inflict one to one or slighty higher casulties, as they did at Iwo Jima on the invading US forces, the US had the men there and then to do it all again if they had to and more in the pipeline. It was not a situation that would repeat it's self though as the money had run out.

The plan for the invasion of the home Islands was not the same thing as the plan for the Pacific Islands and possibly even a sideshow with quite possibly deliberate false talk of troops from Europe going to Japan, they even let the USS Indianapolis sink and half the men get eaten by sharks to protect the truth.

For all it viciousness Iwo doesnt compare to Okinawa for casualties. It was Okinawa that convinced the Staff that resistance would be immense.

The idea that we let the USS Indianapolis sink and its crew be devoured by sharks to hide the A Bombs delivery, or even it's existance is a ludicris crack dream. And the invasion of the home islands plans were very real and can be accessed.